The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play Paperback – August 27, 1996

It is a great book everyone should read. is it the best book, not really, however, the tips and tricks you learn in this book is priceless. Even if I hate the book I'd give it 5 stars not to mention I liked the book.Now the book teaches you a few memory tricks. however, I find it a bit annoying by the amount of example they provide. there is a system yet there isn't a system. A Lot of the examples make sense to the authors, they just didn't consider whether or not it make sense for the readers. It's understandable given one is a magician and the other a basketball player. They excel through their own way and the section on magic card trick and basketball game is the biggest section in the book. It is what they are most passionate about.They do go into other subjects too like arts, history, names, numbers, foreign languages, same principle, different application and examples. I do appreciate the examples don't get me wrong, but however, when they use examples that make sense to them but breaks the system it make the read really difficult. They are experts so it make sense for them to break a couple principles because they already know the ins and outs so it works better. However, as a learner, it's like given the instruction to crawl, and then every now and then they tell you jump.Definitely could use some editing for a new version but a great book, everyone should read it.

After reading "The Memory Book", I can have a group of people give me random words, one at a time, and memorize them... in the order in which they were given. Then, given a number, I can quickly recall the corresponding word. Or, alternately, given a word I can recall the corresponding number. It takes a few seconds for me to engrain each word, but I can easily do this with 20 words. I'm confident I could recall over 95 out of a 100 if I ever had a reason to try.I have always considered my memory to be rather poor. But after using the VERY SIMPLE techniques in this book, I am capable of memorizing things many people would deem near impossible, with minimal effort. The first exercise listed ten words: Airplane, tree, envelope, earring, bucket, sing, basketball, salami, nose, and star. Then provided a child-like way to not only remember all ten words but also in the sequence in which they were presented. Some might, at first glance, think that's simple, but try it without a method! I had them memorized in about fifteen minutes and now they seem to be permanently etched in my brain; that was over a week ago and I just wrote them in this review from memory! The next exercise was a list of thirty words, most of which were complex and I had never seen before. That might impress some people, but these methods have real practical applications.Memorizing names with faces, speeches, numbers (phone, credit card, a 50-digit number if you so desire) are what's taught in the first half alone. The use of "pegging" is central to the memorization methods taught in this book. Every number from 0 through 9 has a phonetic sound(s) associated with it. By mastering the basics, one can quickly figure out how to memorize a list of 100 words/names if he really wants to.Here's an oversimplified example. Memorize the following ten groupings by using a simple rhyming method:1. Bun2. Shoe3. Tree4. Door5. Hive6. Sticks7. Heaven8. Gate9. Vine10. PenNow think of a word you want to memorize. This will be the first word in your memory. Now peg this word to the word "bun". For example, if you thought about a cloud, picture a hamburger bun with a big pile of "cloud" sitting in it instead of a hamburger patty. The more outlandish the connection you imagine, the easier it will be to recall. Peg your second word to "shoe" and so on.This is really awesome. Why isn't this mandatory in elementary school?

After reading a few of the horrible reviews for this book...I had to read it. It is amazing how personally offended the reviewers were/are that this book even exists. I don't understand their level of pure hatred/malice at this book.After reading this book, I now have one technique that fits a wide variety of circumstances. It is a single tool that can be used in a wide variety of situations. Even better, it works with the everyday.The main premise, like most memory books, is to force the reader to be aware in the moment of what they are reading. It goes on to explain that the reader can trust their mind to make the corrections.The author does not pretend to have a degree. In fact, he mentions several times that he does not. Mr. Lorayne avoids discussing the actual workings of the brain. He avoids theories about how we think. He stays away from evolution of the brain. Basically, anything you would find in college about the anatomy or theory of the brain or memory is NOT in this book.I found the technique to be very useful and accurate. There are plenty of applications from ranging from the serious to the more playful. However, it is always practical and easy. The most difficult part is coming up with some of the words needed for the sounds.